Heather Dyer

Heather Dyer is an award-winning children’s author. The Fish in Room 11 (Chicken House/Scholastic) won the Highland book awards in 2004. The Girl with the Broken Wing was featured as one of Richard and Judy’s ‘best children’s books ever’ in 2007, and The Boy in the Biscuit Tin was nominated for a Galaxy best British children’s book award in 2008. Heather’s books have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4, translated into several languages and studied in schools at key stage 2. They feature ordinary children to whom something magical happens. Friendship, family and freedom are the themes explored.

In 2005 Heather received a Hawthornden fellowship. Her work has also been supported by bursaries from the Canada Council for the Arts and from Literature Wales, and through her fellowship with the RLF, which has informed her teaching of both academic writing and creative writing. She has designed and led several courses for Bristol University, Aberystwyth University and the University of Worcester. These include persuasive writing, novel writing, writing for children, and writing for publication — which was shortlisted for the Universities’ Association of Lifelong Learning award.

Heather is particularly interested in creativity and its application to creative writing, academic writing, and to life in general. She teaches a course called Living Creatively for Aberystwyth University, which draws on research she has undertaken for her doctorate in the psychology of creativity.